The Government has brushed aside opposition demands for an inquiry into intelligence failings that allowed four failed suicide bombers to slip through the net. The statement came as the jury in the 21 July terrorist trial was discharged after failing to reach verdicts on the last two defendants.
Manfo Kwaku Asiedu and Adel Yahya remained in custody pending a decision by the prosecution today on whether to press for a retrial. Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Hussain Osman, all convicted of conspiracy to murder at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, will be sentenced today.
Police and the security services have been accused of missing several opportunities to trap the gang. Ibrahim, the ringleader, was allowed to leave Britain to attend a terrorist training camp in Pakistan while facing charges over extremist behaviour.
– The Independent
Osama bin Laden’s deputy warned Gordon Brown yesterday that Britain would be hit with “a very precise response” in retaliation for the knighthood given to the novelist Salman Rushdie.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number two in al-Qaida, made the threat in an audio tape produced by the organisation’s media wing, as-Sahhab, and distributed to jihadi websites yesterday.
The Egyptian’s 20-minute speech was entitled Malicious Britain and its Indian Slaves and was monitored by Site, a US-based group.
– The Guardian
A ten-man MI5 team followed the ringleader of the 21/7 bombers on the night he left Britain for terrorist training in Pakistan, The Times has learnt.
The Security Service was also alerted when Muktar Said Ibrahim returned to Britain three months later, but allowed him to enter the country unhindered.
Ibrahim, who tried to blow up a No 26 bus on July 21, 2005, will be sentenced with his three accomplices – Yassin Omar, Hussein Osman and Ramzi Mohammed – at Woolwich Crown Court today for conspiracy to murder.
The jury in the six-month-long trial was discharged yesterday after failing to reach verdicts on two other defendants.
– The Times
Britain’s data watchdog sparked a row with business leaders yesterday when he called for more powers to confront companies that fail to protect personal information held on computers. He wants a new rule that would allow investigators to look at files without the permission of company directors.
His plans ran into immediate opposition from business leaders who said his request for increased powers were a heavy-handed response to the problem.
The information commissioner, Richard Thomas, said that a “horrifying” succession of data security breaches in recent years at high-profile companies – including mobile phone operator Orange, building society Nationwide and mail order retailer Littlewoods – had shown that many companies failed to understand the risks to their customers and to their own reputations of keeping vast databases without adequate security.
– The Guardian
